Match Preview : Stoke City vs Manchester United

On the New Year day Manchester United look forward positively as they visit Britannia Stadium for the clash with Stoke City. The Red Devils who are on an unbeaten runof 9 games with 7 wins and 2 draws are hoping for a win over Stoke at their stadium.

United hope they start the year with a win, while the hosts are looking forward to enter the top half of the table if they can get the three points. It will be a perfect entertainer on New Year day as both the teams coming with fresh mindset.

These two teams met against each other at Old Trafford, United’s home ground on December 2, where Stoke lose against the Red Devils with a 2-1 scoreline. Even though N'Zonzi equalised for Stoke in the 39th minute of the game, a controversial Mata winner gifted the Reds three points which was a great inspiration for the team. As they meet again , United will miss some key players like Di Maria,Rojo and Fellaini.

Fellaini scored the opening goal when these two teams met earlier. But manager Van Gaal is pretty happy with the available players and hope his team can perform well.

For Stoke, Diouf will be a key player who is up against his former club where he spent three year of his career from 2009 to 2012. But he could not make a name at United, thereby he was forced to move out. He scored two goals against West Brom in the last match where Stoke went on to win .

With Crouch , Bojan and Adam in the team , it won’t be an easy job for in-experienced United defense. Ryan Shawcross , Stoke centre back also played for United long back as he is now a promising defender. It will be hard for Rooney and Co. to break Stoke defense with Shawcross at centre.

At United, manager Van Gaal may change the formation which he played for the last few games as injured right and left backs Rafael and Shaw returns. With a 4-4-2 formation , it will be more an orthodox lineup . As Rooney is currently playing as a central midfielder, manager would be feeling difficult to make changes in the team.

Mata may be sacrificed as Van Gaal was not satisfied with playmaker’s performance against Spurs couple of days back. But with Falcao and Van Persie upfront and Rooney just behind the strikers, United have an upper hand in attack.

If the defensive errors are reduced, the team can be a challenge for any opponent. With De Gea , United have been winning many games in this season due to their goal keeper’s amazing saves.

?Venue and Kick-off

Britannia Stadium – Thursday 1 January, 6:15 pm

Possible Lineups :

Stoke City : Begovic,Bardsley,Shawcross,Muniesa,Pieters,N'Zonzi,Wilson,Walters,Bojan,Diouf,Crouch ; Subs: Huth,Cameron,Assaidi.

Manager Mark Hughes will be looking forward to play almost the same team that they played against West Brom last week where they won 2-0 comfortbaly at home stadium. With Diouf scoring two goals last week , manager will be confident of playing him along with Bojan and Crouch upfront and will be looking for an attacking display in the game against Manchester United.

Manchester United : De Gea,Rafael,Smalling,Jones,Shaw,Young,Carrick,Mata,Rooney,Falcao,Van Persie ; Subs : McNair,Fletcher,Wilson.

Van Gaal who was furious about busy festive schedule is lucky that he is not having any major injuries during this period. With Rafael and Shaw returning from injury, Van Gaal will be thinking of switching the formation to 4-4-2 with Young as winger upfront.

Even if he starts with attacking forwards Van Persie and Falcao, he will have to substitute either of them for youngster Wilson as both may feel tired playing more than 180 mintes in a gap of 7 days.! Herrera who is supposed to return from injury by New Year day may find a chance to appear in the game if the manager need.

Predictions:

Stoke City 1 – 2 Manchester United ; with Crouch scoring for Stoke City and Rooney and Van Persie for Manchester United.

Even though Stoke won a game last week comfortably , they won’t be having such an easy game against Red Devils , who have improved in the last few months. United will be pushing more in the attack to score an early goal to add an advantage for them.